All smiles, or is there more to it?

There is much to value in Emotional AI. After all, what it promises is better experience of services, devices and technologies. Indeed, this class of data offers designers, artists, citizens and others novel forms to understand the self and others. However, as with many other aspects of digital life, there are wider considerations that give cause to question the rollout of these technologies. Citizens, researchers, policy-makers and industry folk might consider the following:

Overall, it is it desirable that emotions are machine-readable?

Will this data always be used in a manner that benefits citizens?

Are protections adequate? That is, are our laws and regulations appropriate?

Is the spirit of data protection appropriate? This tends to focus on identity, but is identity the principal issue?